Absence Procedure

Parents/carers are required to contact the school office via email/telephone/in person by 09:00 on the first day of their child’s absence. 01476 568740 or absences@cliffedale.lincs.sch.uk 

Parents/carers are required to continue to inform school on each day of their child’s absence if this exceeds more than 1 day, with the exception of sickness/diarrhoea which requires an absence of 48 hours from the last bout of illness.

Responding to non-attendance

A telephone call will be made by 09:30 to the parent/carer of any pupil who has not reported their child’s absence on the first day that they do not attend school to:

• Ascertain the reason for the absence
• Ensure the proper safeguarding action is taken
• Identify whether the absence is authorised or not
• Identify the correct code to use before entering it on to the school’s system

Where there is no response by 12:00 (emergency contact list has been exhausted), there will be a home visit from a member of the school staff in line with our school’s safeguarding and child protection policy. If the school are unable to raise any response at the home, they may request the police carry out a ‘safe and well check’ to the property.

If any pupil is absent for a period of 10 days (particularly when we have had no contact form parents/carers) the absence will be unauthorised and notified to Lincolnshire County Council’s Pupils Not Attending Regularly (PNAR) service.

https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/school-attendance/pupil-attendance/3

For pupils where non-attendance continues or irregular patterns of attendance are causing concern, the case will be discussed with the school leadership team and further action planned in line with the Attendance Flow Chart (Appendix 1).  

Attendance will be monitored by the school. If a pupil’s attendance falls below 90% for any reason (including illness or holidays), they will be classed as Persistent Absentees (PA). A letter will be sent to parents to make them aware of this. If attendance does not improve within two weeks of a school notifying parents of poor attendance, they will be asked to attend a School Attendance Panel meeting. This meeting will include the appropriate staff, parent/carer and pupil and will aim to identify and solve any problems that are preventing the pupil from attending school. Parent/carers are obliged to attend.

The case will continue to be monitored and if there is no improvement, a penalty warning letter will be issued. Failure to improve attendance will result in a Penalty Fine from the Local Authority under Section 444(b) of the Education Act 1996. If it is felt that the pupil’s attendance is not improving due to lack of support or engagement with either the parent/carer or the pupil, consideration will be taken as to submitting a file to the Local Authority to initiate proceedings before a Magistrates Court.